[Against free market in health]

Universalism is a basic philosophical concept peculiar to the Italian National Health System and as such guarantees free health care for everyone in any public medical structure. On the contrary, liberalism suggests that the medical care system should be based on privately managed health care structures and governed by the laws of the market. In a liberalist society, health care totally depends on each individual's economic possibilities. Money rules the life and health of everyone. The author believes that this fact is ethically unacceptable and incoherent with the culture and social theories of European justice. At present, the revival of liberalism is threatening the universalistic foundation of the Italian National Health System. It is the moral duty of physicians working within any public medical structure, particularly ANMCO associates, to preserve and defend the system. ANMCO should utilize the prestige gained in the past years from its techno-scientific initiatives in a "politically" significant manner to maintain universalism as a philosophical, ethical and juridical principle of the Italian National Health System in the interest of the whole Italian population.